Warriors hammer hapless Cowboys

The Warriors posted their 10th win of the season in style this evening with a comprehensive 26-0 win over North Queensland in the round 23 NRL match-up at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland.

The Warriors showed no mercy to an extremely disappointing Cowboys side, whose final hopes are fading fast with yet another substandard performance.

After leading 12-0 at half-time thanks to tries from Simon Mannering and Sam Rapira, the home side scored three more in the second stanza through Manu Vatuvei and a double to Lance Hohaia.

Had they not been penalised four competition points before the start of the season for salary cap breaches, Ivan Cleary's side would find itself inside the NRL's top eight.

The Cowboys were reduced to a rabble in the wet conditions and never looked comfortable in attack or committed in defence, while the Warriors played smart wet-weather football in front of their home crowd.

If the Raiders and the Eels post wins this weekend, last year's grand finalists could find themselves two games outside the top eight and facing a mountain of a task making the finals.

Missing key playmaker Johnathan Thurston, North Queensland never really threatened the Warriors defensive line and failed to score a point for the first time in three years.

With both sides struggling to complete sets early, the Warriors posted the first points of the game in the 15th minute after a blunder from Cowboys full-back Ashley Graham put them on the attack just 10 metres out.

Fielding a kick deep in his own territory, Graham spilt the greasy ball with not a New Zealand player in sight and watched on as centre Mannering sprinted over in the corner a few plays later.

The recalled Hohaia potted the extras for an early 6-0 lead for the home side, and extended the advantage to eight points with a penalty goal eight minutes from the break.

The Cowboys routinely gave away possession in their own half and the Warriors took full advantage of a poor kick on the fifth tackle when Rapira crossed for his first try in first grade.

Running the ball 20 metres out from the tryline, pivot Jerome Ropati delivered a short ball to the big forward who ran the perfect angle to squeeze between two Cowboys defenders and cross the line just before the siren sounded.

The Warriors shot out of the blocks in the second half, stocky winger Manu Vatuvei touching down just four minutes in. His try was converted by Hohaia for an 18-point lead.

They looked to have scored another four-pointer soon after - this time a spectacular 70-metre effort involving five players - only for the video referee to rule obstruction had occurred at the beginning of the play.

The game took an unexpected twist 10 minutes from full-time when Cowboys second-rower Luke O'Donnell - up until that point his side's best player - was sent off for landing a swinging arm on to the face of Hohaia.

Just 30 seconds after O'Donnell was given his marching orders, the Warriors posted their fourth try of the game - ironically through Hohaia - the replacement showing good pace to dive over in the right-hand corner.

Hohaia piled more misery on the Cowboys when he dived over from three metres out for his second try in the 78th minute.